A roomful of Cape Codders proved last Friday that watching legislation in the making isn't quite as grisly (or is it gristly?) as watching sausages being made.

Housing advocates joined Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative members and others at the request of state Sen. Rob O'Leary, who has introduced legislation that would allow Cape towns to implement so-called "checkerboard zoning" during sewering projects.

Among others, Tom Lynch and Bob Murray, executive directors of, respectively, the Barnstable and the Falmouth housing authorities, and water collaborative members John Hinckley and Gussie McKusick of Orleans took part in the discussion.

Word had circulated that such arrangements might quash workforce and affordable housing developments, so the senator brought advocates together at Barnstable Town Hall to correct that impression.

Under checkerboard zoning (someone at the meeting said "chessboard zoning" was a better term given the level of strategy involved), a community would not be required to hook up every property on a sewer line if that property's wastewater disposal needs could be handled by an on-site system. That's especially important when a town's treatment capacity is limited.

That was the situation in Provincetown, which obtained special approval from the Legislature for its checkerboard approach. Excess capacity is reserved for major developments such as affordable and workforce housing, subject to approval of its release by town meeting. O'Leary's bill would institutionalize that option for Cape towns, which wouldn't have to approach Beacon Hill individually.

Several speakers suggested tying the checkerboard option to a town's adoption of a local comprehensive plan that would provide a blueprint for growth, including affordable and workforce housing.

O'Leary promised to rework his bill's language, and said it was unlikely it would move forward in this term.

A Republican take on the stimulus bill

The Cape's mostly Democratic state legislative delegation cranked out releases about the recently-passed economic stimulus bill, as did Republican Rep. Jeff Perry of Sandwich. His statement, however, trumpeted a GOP initiative to allow senior citizens who are collecting Social Security to get their full state unemployment checks when they're looking for jobs.

Perry noted that Massachusetts was one of less than a dozen states that cut seniors' checks in this manner.